Canada's National Pastime: Booing NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman

Many Canadians Despise Him, but the League has Prospered During His Long Tenure

No major sport is as tradition-bound as North American professional hockey. Players still shake hands after playoff games, and a code of conduct regulates even the brutish practice of fighting. Those traditions are especially sacred in Canada, hockey's spiritual home, where fans are so fervent that a 62-year-old show, "Hockey Night in Canada," still draws the highest ratings for any television program.

So it isn't surprising that the National Hockey League will soon boast the longest-tenured commissioner in a...